Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Music Practice Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Performance Practice Review

Ornamentation (Music)

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Music Practice

How One Learned To Ornament In Late Sixteenth-Century Italy, Timothy J. Mcgee Jan 2012

How One Learned To Ornament In Late Sixteenth-Century Italy, Timothy J. Mcgee

Performance Practice Review

Several of the sixteenth-century ornamentation manuals state that they are self-sufficient tutors; that instrumentalists and vocalists could learn the skill without further assistance from a teacher. While this may have been possible for one type of ornamentation, it did not hold true for the newer, dramatic, Neapolitan style of ornamentation that was heavily based on rhetorical models, and which needed careful guidance from an experienced teacher (Author).


Giovanni Luca Conforti And Vocal Embellishment: From Formula To Artful Improvisation, Murray C. Bradshaw Jan 2012

Giovanni Luca Conforti And Vocal Embellishment: From Formula To Artful Improvisation, Murray C. Bradshaw

Performance Practice Review

"Considers Conforti's treatise Breve et facile maniera d'essercitarsi... (1593) and his Salmi passaggiati (1601-03), revealing the vast gulf between the etude-like exercises in the treatise and the actual embellished music--a difference similar to that between the exercises of Hanon and the piano etudes of Chopin. The embellishments of this period were far more than mere displays of virtuosity; they sprang from a desire to express the deepest meanings of the text."


Interpretation Problems Of Ornament Symbols And Two Recent Case Histories: Hans Klotz On Bach, Faye Fergusonon Mozart, Frederick Neumann Dec 2011

Interpretation Problems Of Ornament Symbols And Two Recent Case Histories: Hans Klotz On Bach, Faye Fergusonon Mozart, Frederick Neumann

Performance Practice Review

The reliance on 17th- and 18th-c. ornament tables in 'authentic' performance often leads to rigid interpretations. A monograph by Hans Klotz (RILM 1984-05515-bm) and a review by Faye Ferguson perpetuate a rigid view of how 18th-c. ornaments should be interpreted.


Keyboard Fingering And Interpretation: A Comparison Of Historical And Modern Approaches, Jeffrey Swinkin Jan 2007

Keyboard Fingering And Interpretation: A Comparison Of Historical And Modern Approaches, Jeffrey Swinkin

Performance Practice Review

Earlier systems of keyboard fingering exploit the natural differences of finger strength and utilize frequent changes of position in order to facilitate localized (gestural) phrasing and articulation, among other interpretive nuances. The modern system of fingering, by contrast, views the fingers as more homogeneous and aims to keep the hand more stationary out of a concern for purely technical facility and for promoting a longer line. This essay offers numerous examples of historical keyboard fingerings—those by C. P. E Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Schenker—in each case discussing the implications the fingering has for phrasing and other aspects of interpretation. It …


Realizing Partial Signatures Around 1400: Liebert's Credo As A Test Case, Kevin N. Moll Jan 1997

Realizing Partial Signatures Around 1400: Liebert's Credo As A Test Case, Kevin N. Moll

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "A system of realization is used to address the problem of partial signatures in vocal polyphony and the adjustments of accidentals they require. Its principles are applied to the first 18 measures of the Credo of the Mass by Reginaldus Libert. If some latitude in the governing criteria is allowed, it is feasible to realize partial signatures in a systematic manner."


The Implications Of Fingering Indications In Virginalist Sources: Some Thoughts For Further Study, Desmond Hunter Jan 1992

The Implications Of Fingering Indications In Virginalist Sources: Some Thoughts For Further Study, Desmond Hunter

Performance Practice Review

Focuses on the fingering of linear figuration and of grace notes. Various methods of fingering were undoubtedly explored by performers once they had mastered the basic principles illustrated in teaching pieces, and skeletal markings in the main repertoire are informative in this respect. Indications on grace notes often serve as qualifying symbols. Given that the virginalists' vocabulary of grace signs was limited, and that other means of qualification and clarification were employed, the evidence that fingering served as a useful expedient is persuasive.


Portamento In Romantic Opera, Deborah Kauffman Jan 1992

Portamento In Romantic Opera, Deborah Kauffman

Performance Practice Review

"Portamento, the practice of sliding between pitches, has traditionally been viewed as a tasteless Romantic excess in vocal performance. At the height of the Romantic era, however, singing treatises by Manuel Patricio Rodriguez Garcia, Alexis de Garaude, and Ferdinand Sieber openly discuss different types of portamento and when it is most appropriately used. Recordings by singers trained in the 19th c. such as Adelina Patti and Fernando de Lucia show it to be widely used and highly effective. Portamento was thus not a performer's unwelcome additon, but an integral part of performance practice." (Bellman, Jonathan)


The Vibrato Controversy, Frederick Neumann Jan 1991

The Vibrato Controversy, Frederick Neumann

Performance Practice Review

Today's early music specialists either ban the use of vibrato or restrict it drastically. This position suffers from three principal weaknesses: the failure to understand the nature of a well-produced vibrato in which the so-called impurities of pitch become inaudible above a certain threshold of speed, through a mysterious brain function (comparable to that involved in stereophonic sound or stereoscopic vision); a misinterpretation of sources; and an unawareness of extensive historical evidence for vibrato use through four centuries, culminating in Mozart's eulogy of a fine vibrato for voice and instruments.


"Performance Practice Before 1600." Edited By Howard M. Brown And Stanley Sadie, Timothy J. Mcgee Jan 1991

"Performance Practice Before 1600." Edited By Howard M. Brown And Stanley Sadie, Timothy J. Mcgee

Performance Practice Review

McGee discusses and reviews Brown and Sadie's 1989 book.


"Ornamentation And Improvisation In Mozart." By Frederick Neumann., Malcolm S. Cole Jan 1990

"Ornamentation And Improvisation In Mozart." By Frederick Neumann., Malcolm S. Cole

Performance Practice Review

Reviews and critiques Neumann's 1986 book.


Concerning The Performance Of Mozart's Concert Arias K. 294 And K. 528, Nicole Baker Jan 1989

Concerning The Performance Of Mozart's Concert Arias K. 294 And K. 528, Nicole Baker

Performance Practice Review

Vocal treatises of the 18th c. and recent research suggest that Mozart's concert arias should be embellished with restraint. Appropriate ornaments include turns, filling-in patterns, appoggiaturas, and short cadences at elongated fermatas. Two arias--Alcandro lo confesso...Non so d'onde viene, K.294, and Bella mia fiamma...Resta, o cara, K.528--are discussed in more detail.